Murder of a Chocolate-Covered Cherry Read Online Free

they
could
be reprogrammed. Still, why had she ever let Xenia Craughwell write for the
Scoop
?
    Granted, Xenia was smart—her IQ was off the charts. She was an excellent writer, and she was seeing an outside therapist, but there was a streak of meanness in the girl that concerned Skye. Xenia just didn’t seem to grasp the finer points of right and wrong, which made Skye suspect that it would take more than six months of counseling to make any substantive changes in her.
    Xenia had enrolled in Scumble River High in the fall after being kicked out of several other schools, and up until now she had been behaving herself; but Skye should have known from Xenia’s record that wherever she went, trouble followed.
    Which brought Skye back to the question of why in the world she had allowed Xenia on the newspaper staff to begin with. Skye felt like slapping herself—she had to stop trying to save everyone, and admit that some people were beyond her power to help.
    Trying to distract herself from thinking about the lawsuit, she flipped open her appointment book and stared at the pale green index card clipped to Thursday. Her mother’s careful printing mocked Skye.
    Was she some kind of moron? What in heaven’s name was she doing wrong? She’d been practicing the recipe for nearly three months and it still came out a gooey, rubbery mess every time she made it. The only time the dish was edible was when May stood right beside her, guiding her every move.
    Poor Wally had dutifully eaten all of Skye’s attempts, and gamely lied, claiming to taste improvement each time. Maybe that was why he had broken so many dates lately. At least three or four times since January he had called out of the blue, said something had come up, and had never given her a good explanation for canceling.
    He was probably reconsidering his statement that he wasn’t looking for a girlfriend who was a good cook. Thank goodness the contest started tomorrow. One more practice casserole and Skye might be minus a boyfriend.
    Okay, she didn’t want to think about the lawsuit or the recipe. What was more pleasant?
Ah, yes
. She smiled, recalling how excited everyone in town had been about Grandma Sal’s Cooking Challenge. In the past, the opening press conference, the welcome luncheon, and the awards ceremony had taken place in Brooklyn, but this year Scumble River’s mayor, Dante Leofanti, who was also Skye’s uncle, had persuaded the company to move all those events to Scumble River.
    Locating accommodations for the three judges, half a dozen contest staff members, and various media personnel covering the three-day extravaganza had been like negotiating a peace treaty, but the mayor had stepped in and gotten everything moving forward.
    He had even managed to get the school board to allow him to use the high school gym/auditorium for the contest press conference. As Dante had explained at the town meeting, no way would they let an event that would bring in both positive media coverage and lots of people spending money go back to Brooklyn just to save some scuffing of a hardwood floor.
    Skye had watched in awe as her uncle managed to get the townspeople to work together to keep the Challenge in Scumble River. Collaboration was not the strong suit of most of the town’s citizens.
    Skye tapped the recipe card against her chin, remembering having seen Dante arguing with Uncle Charlie about who got the cottages at his motor court. Charlie would have preferred to give the rooms to the highest bidders, but he and the mayor had agreed to three for the judges, three for out-of-town Grandma Sal’s staff, one for Grandma Sal, one for her son and his wife, one for her two grandsons, and two for the media. It was a good thing the cooking challenge was for Stanley County residents only. All the finalists could commute.
    Charlie stood firm on the twelfth cabin, explaining that he had a long-term renter and couldn’t kick him out. Skye wondered how much the lodger had